


bullets and shield: an avengers ice dance au

by SkySkySkylar



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ice Dance, Gen, alternate universe - figure skating, bullet point fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-20
Updated: 2018-09-30
Packaged: 2019-03-21 12:41:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13741104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkySkySkylar/pseuds/SkySkySkylar
Summary: A bullet-point fic in which the Avengers are figure skaters, and everything is 100% great and ridiculous





	1. Clint

Clint Barton...

  * Grew up in Iowa
  * Learned to skate because it was an Approved Activity by his father
  * Mostly because his dad wanted him to be a hockey player
  * Clint did play hockey but didn’t really like it
  * What he actually liked was figure skating
  * He got to take some classes to help with his skating skills but his dad wouldn’t let him do it for real
  * He totally did it anyway though, just not officially and without telling anyone outside the rink
  * Parents died when he was 13, and he and Barney went into foster care
  * They ran away and joined the circus a year later
  * Clint learned to dance for some of the acts and also did a rollerskating act
  * Also did a bit of trick shooting, but mostly they used him as a dancer and acrobat
  * At age 17 he realized that Barney was doing some Illegal Shit on the side and that he was going to get wrapped up in it if he stayed
  * He leaves and after a month or so of homelessness and wandering he ends up in Detroit crashed on the couch of an old friend who lived on the same block when they were kids
  * He manages to get a job at the ice rink down the street doing janitorial stuff and odd jobs and starts working on his GED
  * He’s at an ice rink, so hey, skating! Pretty soon the rink has him helping out with the intro classes and running crowd control during public skates
  * Within like 6 months he’s got all his skills back, except he’s better than he ever was before, because he’s actually capable of dancing now
  * He gets into ice dance because Dance and because No Jumping (he kinda hurt himself jumping the week before)
  * Starts skating with some girl a few years younger who needed a partner
  * They don’t even get to compete because now that he’s actually training ice dance he’s improving way faster than she is oops
  * Starts skating with another person who needs a partner instead and they actually do compete and do pretty well
  * But then she goes to college
  * at this point it’s only been a year since he left the circus and only half of one since he started ice dance but he’s already on his third partner
  * this new partner is at a different rink so he’s also on his second ice rink
  * he’s gotten his GED by this point and has saved up enough to rent a crappy room for himself instead of crashing with his old friend
  * he does Not Get Along with his new coaches
  * so he leaves
  * and spends a few months skating by himself at the first rink before getting the opportunity to skate with another girl at yet another rink
  * he and new partner do not get along because Clint is kinda still improving way fast and she’s kinda mad about it
  * this continues for the next year or two
  * he jumps around rinks in Michigan and keeps leaving because he improves too fast (although that stops happening so often) or because he hates the coaches or because the coaches hate him
  * in one notable occasion he gets permanently banned from a rink for loudly telling his coach that they’re wrong in front of a whole bunch of other skaters, and then yelling at people (including the rink owner) when they tell him to chill
  * actually goes to Canada to train for a year because he’s kinda Really Good by now, like “I can definitely qualify to nationals given a good partner and maybe even get an international assignment if I’m really lucky” good, and another really good person needs a new partner and she wants to train in Canada
  * that person is Bobbi Morse
  * they do pretty good, but then Clint gets fed up with his coaches again
  * actually it’s mutual, the coaches are also 100% done with him
  * problem is that him and Bobbi still want to skate together but like half the rinks with ice dance programs either hate Clint or he hates them
  * and the other half is understandably hesitant to take him on
  * so Bobbi suggests they move to Arizona, where her first rink is, because why not and because Phil Coulson, who is not a well-known coach but she thinks is good, is there
  * so off they go to train at SHIELD (Clint: why the fuck is it called shield, that is the weirdest name for a rink I have ever heard???? Bobbi: shut up and skate we’re just lucky to have a rink in the first place considering everything about you)
  * and Coulson is… kinda Clint’s new favorite person ever
  * he’s funny and kind but he doesn’t talk down to his athletes or tell them they’re doing well when they’re not
  * he expects 100% always and will not put up with any bs, but Clint doesn’t mind because he also doesn’t take any bs and Clint can respect that
  * also Bobbi’s opinion of Coulson was right in that he really does know the technical aspects of ice dance and all this combined means that Clint and Bobbi start improving a lot even though Coulson’s never had a team at this level
  * they’d left Canada in the middle of a season and took the rest of the season off from competition, and by the time the next season rolls around they are Ready
  * they actually get an international assignment!! Granted it’s Four Continents in an Olympic year, so all the big names aren’t going, and they only actually got to go because another team pulled out, but hey!! International!!
  * They skate okay, but the other teams are generally better and so their mistakes combined with that means that the only reason they avoid last place is because other team Royally Fucked Up
  * But hey, they had an international assignment, and that is pretty rad
  * Problem is they’ve kinda stopped liking each other some point during this season
  * Like they still get along, but it’s the type of getting along where they mostly try to avoid each other
  * And so after the competition when Bobbi is like “maybe we should communicate more and our skating might improve” Clint is not really having it and they argue about it
  * And then they try it, but it really doesn’t work because they really don’t actually like each other, so in the end they just argue a lot more
  * But they’re a team, so they start getting ready for the next competition
  * And while Bobbi spends a lot of time away from the rink, Clint spends a lot of time there
  * He gets to know the rink owner, Nick Fury, pretty well
  * He’d known Fury in passing before of course, but Fury had been away for a few months dealing with some personal thing (family thing? No one really knows. Coulson might, but he’s not telling) and before that Clint had either been training really hard or just trying to get his bearings in the new place
  * He also switches between trying to avoid Maria Hill and trying to impress her
  * Maria became rink manager right before Fury left and she is. Scary.
  * But he gets to know both of them better now because he really is just staying at the rink so he can keep busy and not think about the mess with Bobbi
  * Coulson is concerned but also recognizes that he can’t really say anything without making Clint angry so he doesn’t
  * He just does what he can to work on their skating, because that next competition is in two months




	2. Natasha

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enter Natasha Romonoff.

Natasha...

  * Grew up in Russia
  * Started ballet training at age 6
  * Parents died when she was 8
  * Spent next few years in an orphanage
  * Got a ballet scholarship to continue her training
  * Adopted and moved to the US at 12
  * New “parents” tried to do Russian things with her so they took her skating a lot
  * Natasha was not impressed by their efforts
  * But she did get into skating
  * And then ran away from “home” at 16
  * Camps out in a friend’s basement until she turns 18, and keeps skating because she managed to get a job at an ice rink
  * She’d already done some ice dance but gets more into it now
  * Literally the only reason she gets into it though is because the parents of someone who the coaches want to partner her with are super rich, and she recognized that having a connection to rich people is good since she’s homeless now
  * They buy her food a lot and help her apply for scholarships so she can go to community college once she graduates high school, and then pay the difference for her first semester
  * So she and the boy compete and they actually do really good?
  * And keep improving?
  * And a few years later he goes to college and quits
  * But she’s kinda really into this by now and also really good so she moves to Michigan and wanders around until she finds a guy she doesn’t hate who needs a partner
  * She probably overlaps Clint by a few months but they don’t run into each other, and by the time she knows who he is he’s in Canada
  * So she skates with this guy for a year, then dumps him in favor of someone she can get to senior level with
  * And he’s really not that great, but he’s dedicated, and by god he will keep up with her or die trying
  * Die trying might be more likely, but that’s not stopping him
  * They do move up to senior after a year and miss qualifying to nationals by about half a point
  * Natasha is pissed
  * And starts thinking about switching partners again
  * There’s a competition in May that their coaches want them to compete at as a start to their next season
  * Natasha’s not sure there’s gonna be a next season, but she doesn’t have actual plans yet so they train and she keeps her ideas to herself
  * Except that this is the skating world and so by the time April happens everyone pretty much knows
  * So they show two nights before they compete and the guy across the hall in the hotel is Clint Barton
  * Who she definitely knows about and both respects (he does not take bullshit from anyone) and looks down on (does the man not know how to shut up oh my god he is a disaster all the coaches at her rink hate him)
  * Clint also definitely notices her and she remembers hearting a rumor that he’s looking for a new partner
  * She doesn’t know if it’s true or not but he’s looking at her when they pass in the hall and he’s still looking at her at practice the next day and at lunch
  * Actually she suspects that he’s eating lunch at that café because she is
  * This is intriguing but she is not interested in going with him
  * He trains in Arizona and that’s a very hot place for Natasha, who is still very Russian in some ways
  * Most people in the skating world hate him and there’s probably a reason
  * Well, there’s definitely a reason, and she’s not interested in becoming involved in this train wreck
  * He did do well this season but that was a fluke
  * He’s talented enough, probably, but Clint Barton and Ability To Do Well do not last together for long
  * Everyone knows that
  * Unfortunately Clint does not get the memo that she’s not interested
  * Although his coaches might have because he’s been moved to a room in a different wing of the hotel
  * They compete
  * Natasha’s partner trips during the footwork sequence in their short dance, causing both of them to fall
  * Clint and Bobbi don’t seem to have any real concept of unison
  * Clint keeps eying her even though she can _see_ his coach try to guide him away
  * Things improve in the free dance for Natasha
  * They do not for Clint and Bobbi
  * They don’t even argue after, even though they placed super low, they just ignore each other
  * Natasha and her guy place third after a reasonable free dance
  * They also kinda ignore each other after
  * Or really Natasha ignores her partner and he gives up
  * Which is when Clint sits down across from her in the diner booth she’s claimed
  * And remarks that he’s heard she’s looking for a new partner
  * She glares at him
  * She was sitting alone because she wanted to be alone, asshole
  * Clint is just like “so am I, and my coach is actually amazing, and you should come join me?”
  * And she’s like…. Join. You.
  * And tells him she’s not interested
  * He is not deterred
  * She honestly cannot tell if he is ignoring her increasingly pointed invitations for him to leave her alone over the next few minutes, or if he honestly does not get it
  * She’s learning toward not getting it, but something tells her she’s wrong
  * “Look,” he says, “you are really talented. You deserve a partner that you can actually get somewhere with. Your current partner is not that guy, and you’re not good enough yet for any of the top skaters to take a risk on you. I’m sitting here offering you a phenomenal coach, a secluded rink away from all the gossip, and a partner who hasn’t hit his peak either. I know I can improve, and I know that both of our current partners have gotten about as far as they are ever going to. So what’s the hangup?”
  * And she kinda just looks at him again and raises her eyebrows.
  * Clint is just like “….yeah okay. But I’m better now.”
  * She does. Not really believe him.
  * But she has to give him points for persistence
  * And everything else he’s said seems to be true
  * Maybe not about the coach, but it’s possible
  * He’s talking again
  * Oops
  * He smirks and asks again what the number one worst thing about her current situation is
  * She glares, but not really at him
  * “My partner is a talentless body on skates, with arms he flaps around and calls artistic”
  * Clint snorts
  * And asks why she hasn’t left
  * And she says she hasn’t found a better situation yet
  * Clint looks at her
  * Just
  * Looks
  * It’s a bit unnerving
  * “because you’ve been marked as flaky, right? And most of the top coaches won’t take you?” he says
  * Wait
  * How did he know that???
  * “I’ve been in that situation”
  * Fuck he can read minds too now
  * “Coulson trusts his skaters. Demands a lot, but he’s committed to helping us. And he isn’t juggling twenty other teams, either.”
  * Goddammit if this doesn’t sound tempting
  * But it’s Clint Barton, and she’d have to go to Arizona.
  * He sighs
  * “Please?” he says
  * Well crap
  * She is not sentimental
  * But this guy just broke her with some puppy dog eyes
  * Dammit!!!
  * She looks at him
  * “I’ll need a job.”
  * “The rink’s always hiring. And SHIELD’s a good place.”
  * She sighs. “Fine. But I’m not teaching the toddlers.”
  * He grins
  * What has she just done to herself




	3. Natasha and Coulson Freak Out; Clint is Smug

  * Coulson has a headache
  * Bobbie is _pissed_
  * Natasha’s old coach and partner yell a lot
  * Everyone in the vicinity is eating up the drama
  * Clint is smug
  * Natasha has a headache and is starting to panic
  * Coulson tries to yell at Clint but manages more of a pained “what did you _do_ ”
  * Followed by _“why”_
  * And Clint kinda just shrugs and is like “you know why. This is going to be good. Trust me.”
  * Coulson does not know why he is trusting Clint on this but he is, goddammit
  * The fact that he never once even considers throwing Clint out doesn’t occur to him
  * Clint however does notice that there are no threats or warnings to shape up
  * And he also notices that convincing Coulson on this did not take very long
  * Coulson is definitely in his list of favorite people. Might even be number one at this point. Not like he really has anyone else.
  * In the meantime Natasha is trying to convince herself that she hasn’t just ruined her life.
  * Clint is both helping with that by trying to help her as much as possible and sabotaging that for the same reason
  * But she is not one to back out of split decisions
  * So she goes along with the stuff Clint and Coulson are figuring out about a temporary living situation and the moving process
  * The moving process is basically that Clint and her are going to Michigan for two days to get her stuff and end her lease and crap and then flying to Arizona together
  * Natasha insists she doesn’t need help but Clint and Coulson insist that it will be easier with another pair of hands
  * She tries not to think about how she suspects they really just want to keep tabs on her so she doesn’t run of
  * So two days later Clint (minus his skate bag and costumes, which Coulson has, and plus extra socks and underwear from the local mall) and Natasha are in Natasha’s soon-to-be-old apartment trying to pack everything into a few suitcases
  * It shouldn’t be hard, there isn’t much
  * But of course it is because moving is always hard
  * Natasha honestly can’t decide if Clint’s constant sarcasm and jokes is the most refreshing thing to happen in years, or if it’s so annoying that she’s going to scream
  * She tries not to laugh and mostly succeeds
  * Clint in the meanwhile has noticed her amusement much more often than he thinks she realizes
  * And has basically made it his mission to get her to laugh as often as possible
  * They also both start to vaguely realize that the other is as insightful as they are
  * And they each get a bit unnerved by it
  * But they make it back to Arizona with no major issues, and get Natasha settled in the extra room that one of the rink staff has
  * Coulson tells her to spend a day getting settled, and makes sure that she knows she can ask her host for whatever she needs
  * Then he drives Clint to his own house, sits him at the kitchen table, and asks him if he realizes just how much more work this means
  * Clint is like “yeah, I know, I’m sorry”
  * Coulson is just like “that really does not help with my headache I have done basically nothing the last week except for figuring out how to move Natasha here and then figuring out a training plan because you two haven’t even skated together ONCE Clint and do you realize how bad this will be if it falls apart? Have you thought about what will happen if you don’t skate well together or if you don’t get along or if she decides to leave? Because you will never have another partner again.”
  * And Clint is like… “well not in as many words, but yeah. I know.”
  * And then Coulson orders pizza for both of them and tells Clint to look over the training plans and basically makes Clint work on the disaster he has made for the next three hours before letting him go home, even though Clint is exhausted.
  * Clint feels only a little bad the next day. Really. But that’s still bad enough to send Coulson some more ideas, and then to go to the rink and glare everyone into submission when they want to talk a lot about Natasha
  * He really does not want them all after her when she shows up tomorrow
  * They’re gonna stare anyway, but if he can at least protect her from the worst gossips he’ll feel better




	4. Trust and Talent, pt 1

  * Natasha walks into the rink at 9am the next morning, half an hour before her meeting with Coulson and Clint
  * The first person she sees is Fury, who is kinda terrified about his business right now
  * Like having a decent team at the rink had meant that enrollment has started to go up, but depending on how this works out there might be enough bad press to tank those numbers
  * On the other hand, if Coulson is right, which really means if Clint is right - and why does Coulson trust that kid so much oh lord Fury needs more ibuprofen right now – this could be the best thing to ever happen to his rink
  * Except that they’re not currently set up to handle being the training facility for a world-class team and did he mention that he has a headache?
  * Anyway he deals with all of this by glaring at Natasha as she comes in
  * Natasha might be a little intimidated
  * Might be
  * She’s certainly not letting him know that
  * So she tosses her hair over her shoulder, shakes his hand, and asks where she can put her stuff down
  * He kinda mutely points toward the door to the locker rooms
  * There’s not many people who can stand up to his glare and, while he’d been glaring on reflex and not actually trying to scare her away, he’s kinda shocked now that he didn’t
  * So Natasha goes and drops her stuff in the locker room, mourns the lack of an actual locker assigned to her, and heads back out to explore the building, ignoring everyone starting at her and whispering to each other
  * The rink is not big
  * Not nearly as nice as the one she had been training at
  * She doesn’t let herself second-guess her decisions, but she’s totally panicking right now
  * There’s a small gym, with exercise equipment against one wall and the rest left open. Plenty of mats, and a barre and some mirrors.
  * There’s a small concession stand.
  * There’s an equipment room, mostly full of hockey gear.
  * There’s what appears to be a staff lounge, and she suspects that she’s not currently allowed in, but she makes herself some coffee anyway.
  * And then there’s the rink itself, which is the only part of this facility that seems world-class.
  * And of course there’s a few offices, which she does not go into, and a skate rental, which she does because the lady behind the desk has brought her dog to work, and Natasha doesn’t care if the lady is glaring at her, the dog wants to say hello and so does she.
  * Coulson walks in and says hello to Maria and asks if Natasha is in yet
  * And Maria is like “Coulson. She’s petting my dog. She hasn’t even talked to me but she’s right here and she’s petting my dog.”
  * And Natasha is like “I can hear you, you know” and stands up and shakes Maria’s hand, and that’s how Natasha meets Maria and becomes best friends with her dog
  * So Coulson brings Natasha into his office, and they do basic pleasantries for a bit until Clint shows up, which thoroughly unnerves Natasha because she suspects that he’s learning a lot more about her than just if she slept well last night
  * Then Clint shows up, and Natasha gets the impression that he’s in more trouble that she thought he was in
  * But aside from that vague sense, she can’t get a read on it, because Coulson just launches into a description of the initial training plan he’s set up for them
  * He asks for her input at one point, and she gives it, not really thinking that it’ll change anything
  * But then five minutes later he goes and rewrites an entire section of the plan, based on what she’s said, and she’s too astonished to do anything but nod
  * Clint, she sees, has no reservations about giving his ideas or asking for her opinion, and over the course of the next hour she finds herself answering the questions more easily, and even giving a few ideas unprompted
  * Clint calls Coulson out on an idea that Natasha doesn’t like but wasn’t going to say anything about, and she wants to be grateful, but she suspects that he didn’t actually mind and only said anything because he saw that she was upset
  * That he can tell when she’s upset should be unnerving, and is on some level, but after the last few days she can’t actually say she’s surprised
  * After the meeting, Clint shows her around, and his tour includes a lot more cabinets than the one she’d given herself that morning
  * She’s not joking. Clint has like 5 stashes in various cabinets around this rink. There’s three in the staff lounge, in cabinets so high that no reasonable person would use them, but Clint just jumps onto the fridge and tosses her down a candy bar
  * She eats it, but she doesn’t know why, because it tastes horrible
  * Then she gets another tour from Maria, which is much more technical and includes key features such as:
  * Not one but TWO lockers of her own, complete with locks;
  * A key to a secret shower, behind what she had assumed was the door to the boiler room;
  * Training on how to set up the concession stand;
  * And a contract for the next three months for her to work the concession stand and skate rental during public skates and classes six days each week
  * She hesitates a minute at that, but does sign
  * It doesn’t pass her notice that they aren’t trusting her with actual children yet
  * She also can’t bring herself to care that much, seeing as she doesn’t like children
  * Or teaching
  * Or really most things that bring in money for rinks, it’s true. She knows it.
  * She considers staying after that, and getting a workout in
  * But she’s hungry, and it’s lunchtime, so she leaves, possibly disappointing Clint
  * She goes for a run instead, after getting lunch at a cute little café near where she’s staying.
  * She spends the afternoon on her computer, searching for a place to live
  * When she walks into the rink the next morning, ready to train, Coulson is already there
  * Clint is not
  * He walks in exactly 2 minutes before their start time, and still manages to be on the ice only 30 seconds late.
  * Coulson looks at him and Clint has the grace to look ashamed for a split second
  * Coulson shakes his head, looks at Natasha, who is waiting for instructions (she’s never worked with him before, it seems polite), and gives both of them a wry smile
  * “neither of you has actually been on the ice in almost a week, so spend a few minutes and get back into it before we see how you do together”
  * This is probably the weirdest first training session Natasha has ever been part of, but it’s only her and Clint on the ice, and so she shakes it off and just skates
  * Which feels _good_
  * And then they try some basic partner skating, just trying out different holds and skating around, and it’s weird at first. Really weird. And they have to get used to the differences in heights, and the speed and power each one uses, but… by the time they’ve been at it for an hour, it also feels good.
  * That might be the weirdest part
  * But Coulson looks pleased when they take a break, so Natasha lets herself take it as it is, and tries not to think too hard
  * Clint looks like he might be doing the same
  * And that basically sets the tone for the next few days.
  * Natasha spends more time on the ice than Clint does, letting Coulson evaluate her skills
  * Each time they try something together, it’s weird and awkward until it’s not, and each time it takes less effort to get to where it feels good
  * Coulson doesn’t say anything to either of them, but he looks like under his calm he might be thrilled
  * By the end of the week, Natasha is moving into her own apartment (helpfully found for her by Maria), is sick of her new job, and is thinking that this might just work out after all




End file.
